Food hoarding and ingestion in the deer mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus: selective responses to mu and kappa opiate agonists.

The feeding behavior of the deer mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus, includes food hoarding as well as ingestion. Administration of the prototypical mu opiate agonist, morphine sulfate, 1-20 mg/kg, produced over three hours a significant dose-dependent stimulation of hoarding by free feeding deer mice. The specific kappa opiate agonist, U-50,488H, 0.10-10 mg/kg, markedly increased ingestion without having any augmentatory effects on hoarding. The mixed mu and kappa opiate agonist, ketocyclazocine hydrochloride, 1-10 mg/kg, as well as various combinations of morphine sulfate and U-50,488H, augmented both hoarding and ingestion. Food restriction for 24 hr caused a significant, naloxone (1.0 mg/kg) reversible, increase in food intake. Food deprivation also modified the hoarding and ingestion responses of the deer mice to the mu and kappa opiate agonists, reducing the relative amounts of food that were hoarded. These results indicate that mu and kappa opioid systems are differentially involved in the mediation of various aspects of feeding. This also suggests that environmental factors, such as food restriction, can modify the relative roles of mu and kappa opioid systems in the expression of feeding behavior.